Orphan City
by SilverInches
Summary: Faced with certain death a group of slaves makes a bid for freedom as they pursue the hope that an ancient legend might be true. Please review, constructive critism is welcome.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Rurouni Kenshin. Not that I don't wish I did.

Orphan City

Chapter 1.

by: SilverInches

"Hey!" A sharp elbow jabbed my ribs, dragged me clawing from exhausted slumber, and had me attempting to scramble away. My arms were pulled up short, my legs tangled and I went back down in a thrashing panic. There was no way out. "Hey, hey!" I heard the same male voice again, just as close, I hadn't managed to put any distance between us at all. My memory refused to cooperate with me, and provide the details I craved. Where was I? What was going on?

A small whimper from not far away froze my muscles and the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I slumped slowly into the large hands that had been trying to still my frantic motions. Memory slipped in, bringing welcome clarity. Chains gripped my wrists and tangled around my legs. Sweat, filth and tears had gummed my eyes closed, causing my temporary blindness. The whimper was from my little friend Aya. She and her sister 'Zume had huddled against me in the night for warmth. They would be near, but would have been smart enough to know to get out of the way of my flying limbs.

That knowledge firmly reinstated in my brain, I submitted to the rather disgusting process of someone else unglueing my eyes for me. I hated it, but with my hands coiled in metal from my thrashing, I had no choice but to submit quietly.

When the hands left my face I glared at their owner through my lashes. I wasn't pleased. It was considered very rude, even in a slave pen to wake someone like that. The boy, wild black hair standing almost completely on end, not tamed at all by weeks worth of grease, brown eyes dancing with suppressed amusement at my plight, sat back on his heels and waited only long for me to work my way free enough of the tangle of chains around my upper body to sit up, then he said "You with us?"

My first reaction was puzzlement, my second anger and it took no more than at moment to pass from the first one to the second. Drawing 'Zume into my lap, I snarled at him to go away. He looked startled. Then indignant.

"Here I am, willing to let you in on a secret and you go, acting like I spit on your ol' Gran-mama." He snapped back.

A guard noticing him sitting so tall, bulled his way over to us, and sneered down, caressing the whip that was fastened to his waist. "Problem?" He was eager for there to be one.

"No sir!" I quickly answered, widening my eyes to vacant stupidity. "There was a sting bug and he..." I waved at my not-friend, but the guard was already walking away snarling about moronic babies, bored by such a silly fuss. My eyes swung back to the large boy who had now slouched down next to me. I knew what he was talking about, now that I was calmed down and mostly awake. There had been so many whispers of it running throughout the pens that it was a wonder the guards didn't know about it too. They had a conspiracy, and it was bent on escape. The problem was that when the conspirators were aged anywhere from two years old to twenty-four it's pretty hard to keep a secret.

See the thing is, there are always kids bent on escaping, but when there isn't anywhere we can be safe, anywhere to run to, there is no point in running. The rumor that sparked this conspiracy was ludicrous, they where saying that here, in one of our slave pens, was a boy who had come from the Orphan City. Now don't get me wrong, it's nice to dream, but that city is only a legend. A myth to keep the children from loosing all hope.

You need to understand some things, for this all to make a bit more sense, before I get back into the story. The first is that in our land, the law says that you are a child until you turn twenty-five, and then you are an adult. Until you are an adult, you have no rights, you sure can't hold property of any kind, and if someone snatches you and holds you for two weeks without anyone finding and freeing you, then you are the snatchers lawful property and your parents or whoever have no claim on you anymore, unless they snatch you and hold you for two weeks.

The second thing you need to know is about the Orphan City. Like I said it's just a myth, but supposedly kids aren't slaves there. They are raised by parents without having to fear getting kidnapped everytime they walk out the door. Supposedly, in that place, it's isn't lawful to snatch children. Weird thought. In that land, supposedly you learn while you're young to work at a trade, to grow food, to be able to support yourself when you grow up and have children or our own. You don't even have to worry that your master will kill you the week before you turn twenty-five, which is all most of us have to look forward to. It's laughable to think that there is such a place. I know Aya told me that her Grampa, who looked after her and 'Zume, didn't think it was right for children live in such fear, but that didn't stop the bandits who stole these adorable little ones, now did it? Nor does his wishing help anyone, and the only ones that have any power are the masters, and they make sure to hunt down and punish any child who escapes. They seem almost to take an escape as a personal insult. I've never heard of anyone who managed to stay free for the two weeks the law gives the masters to try and get the escapee back.

Now I've fallen in with a bunch of Crazys who think that we, a huge herd of kids can over power the guards, and stampede away in one big group. As if every master in the land wouldn't band together to wipe us off the face of the earth. Not only that, but they wanted to try to travel to a city that only one kid thinks he remembers how to get to. So, of course my answer to the black haired boy was no. Of course I wasn't with them. I wasn't joining their wild-crazy plans, and no, I was definitely not dragging these two little girls into it to. The guards wouldn't mind killing them off just because they wanted to, for an example. I shuddered, even as I gathered the older of the girls against my side, keeping all three of us together.

I expected the boy to leave then in a huff, but he didn't, he just grinned at me, "I guess we got off on the wrong foot. Shall we try again." I glanced suspiciously at him before turning my attention back to 'Zume's hair. As I played with the fine strands, I shrugged, I didn't mind being friendly, it wasn't like I was going anywhere soon. Not until the transport ships docked anyway.

"I'm Sano." I blinked at the hand thrust under my nose. Aya giggled at the cross eyed look I must have had on my face and I slowly extended a hand to be gripped in his and released.

"'Shin." I informed him against my better judgment, being friendly was one thing, getting to know a Crazy was another, the only thing that came with getting to know Crazys was pain when the guards killed them, or the hunters caught and killed them. I didn't want to be rude, though, so I pointed to the little girl in my lap, "'Zume." and to the girl curled up against me on the far side from him, "Aya." He very gravely extended his large hand to each in turn who in they're turn clasped his first two fingers, giggling again. The laughter was a good sign, and I didn't begrudge them any happiness they could find in this cesspool.

"Look, we have a good plan, and we'd like you to help." This Sano just didn't give up! But I knew his name now, I couldn't just ignore him.

"Why me?" I asked quietly.

"'Cause you're the only one that the guards think is dangerous enough to chain up, even in the pens, and you have two little girls that trust you enough to use you as a heater." That was blunt enough, but I was glad he wasn't dodging the issues. He was playing all his cards in one final bid to get me to buy in. Not that I was any great prize, being small for my age, and as skinny as anyone here. Never the less, I had some muscle and it showed up in my bare arms and chest. Also I was eighteen, didn't look it really, but I was. Okay, this Sano looked to be in his twenties, but I was healthy, whole, and willing to care for someone besides myself. All pluses. And the fact that I was chained hinted at something more.

"Fine then, what's the plan?" I couldn't believe it, I lose myself in thought for one second and my mouth runs away with me. I could have screamed, but of course I didn't.

Sano grinned, reminding me vaguely of a wolf, "We wait until dark, steal the guards weapons, kill all of them, and hoof it out of here."

I stared at him. That was it? That was the grand plan? The largest slave revolt in our history that I had ever heard of, the largest, grandest escape to be dreamed of in my life time, and that was it? It was pure suicide. The trade ships with their escorting war galleys would be arriving any day. An army of children on the run would never make it far enough to evade the mass slaughter that would follow the landing of the men on those boats. Ships. Whatever, I was still surrounded by morons!

All three were watching me closely, and from farther away I could feel the hidden attention of quite a few more boys and girls. With a sigh, I asked, "Who else has agreed to do it? What about the guards' pets?"

He shrugged slightly, playing with the tattered end of his calf length pants, "Everybody over fourteen has agreed to try, even the girls. You're the last. As for the pets, they know that no guard will be able to give them anymore favors when we board those ships. So even they're in on it, and willing to fight for their lives." I was stunned. Frankly, broadsided. I had lived my entire life in these situations, from the time my parents died when I was barely older then 'Zume. This level of cooperation was impossible. That's what kept us all slaves.

"How old is the one who's been to the city?" My mind was racing, with this kind of power, this kind of unity, we might really have a chance, might really escape, but we needed a better plan. "And who's to be in charge?" We had to have a strong leader.

"The kid is twenty one, he was fifteen when he was at the city, so he remembers it pretty good. His name's 'Shi." I nodded, the best way to gain trust is to be willing to give out your name. Not that they were our real names, no slave is allowed a name longer than one or two syllables, or sometimes three if you're really extremely valuable, but none of us here rated that. "As for who's in charge, that's a toss up, there's one guy who's 24, and some think he's the best choice, but he looks as friendly as an eel and as kind as a wolf." If I wasn't mistaken, Sano was bristling, obviously this guy rubbed my new friend the wrong way. That was a bad trait in a leader.

"I won't go along with the plan you have. Is there anyway I could talk to 'Shi? And see if there's something else we can work out?" Sano brightened. He nodded and slowly worked his way off through the crowd. I was impressed despite of myself. I could do stuff like that, slinking to avoid notice, but I was at least 50 pounds lighter than him and almost a foot shorter.

It was almost time for the midday slop when a lean boy worked his way over to me. He had black hair, like Sano, but it was straight and two sets of bangs framed his eyes. To say he was a slave, in a slave pen, he looked fairly well groomed. He was also at least as tall as, if not taller than Sano, and a bit more filled out, not looking quite so much like the starved weasel that most of us older boys did. His eyes were the color of the blue winter sky, and had just as much warmth in them. He wore battered black pants that came to his ankles and the tattered remains of a coat that reached his calves. Moving in concert with him was a slip of a girl about my age, just as skinny as me, and wearing a chest band and shorts similar to my own. Her most striking feature however was her long, long black braid. It had to reach her knees when she was standing. They took positions close to me, and looked about with the practiced indifferance of old hands at deception.

Other then a glace, I kept focused on 'Zume's hair, twirling it in my fingers, and showing no outward interest in the newcomers.

The girl spoke first, "Miss, fourteen. We were told you're 'Shin?" She then turned to a couple girls near her, and struck up a converstation with them. I'm not sure how girls find so much to talk about, but these sure did. I wasn't fooled though, Miss was paying as much attention to me as I was to her and the silent boy, who I guessed to be 'Shi, twenty one.

"Ya. I'm eighteen." It was always right to respond with the same amount of information as they had given you. That way no one had the upper hand. 'Shi nodded at the information, and while Miss seemed to ignore us completely, I could tell she was surprised, I really don't look my age, but I wasn't gonna lie about it. Aya was asleep again, her head on my knee, and her sister was completely relaxed, just enjoying being cuddled.

"You don't like the plan."

It was phrased like a statement, but it was meant as a question. I nodded.

"Have a better one?"

That was only right. If you're going to complain about someone else's plan, you had better have an alternative. I let my shoulders rise and then drop slightly. "Need some information first."

"Like what?"

"How long a trip. Where?" I was asking how far it was to The City, of course, and in what direction it lay. I was glad that this 'Shi was a boy of few words, because I found I didn't have to elaberate any.

"Very far. Beyond the Mine Cities." The mines was where we were all headed. To our deaths. All of us little ones, ones small enough to go down the shafts, we'd work in the tunnels, the larger ones would work as smelters, blacksmiths and in the end we'd all die of crippled bodies, ruptured hearts, or faltering lungs. No one would survive longer than five years, most would last far less. I would last the shortest. I knew what the masters had planned for my kind. That's why I was so dragged out and muzzy headed, and why ideas seemed to keep slipping out of my grasp.

Then there almost seemed to me to be an autible click, and an plan florished to full bloom in moments in the depths of my head. "You know 'Ko? He's nine, maybe ten now." I was pretty sure he was still around.

'Shi looked thoughtful and then nodded. "Thief? Knifer?" I nodded, 'Ko was both of those things.

"Here's an idea." I told him. "Wait until we're on the ships. First dark we slip out and take care of the masters and shipmen."

"The war galleys?" He wasn't dismissing my idea totally yet, that was good.

"We use the tradeship's weapons against them, that's why we have to do our work silently."

He twirled his fingers in the dirt by his sandled feet, his were the first pair I'd seen in a long while. "Everyone over fourteen is chained on shipboard." He countered quietly.

"That's what 'Ko's for." I told him, "Get him to pick the best thieves he knows, and have at least one on each ship. First dark, they open our chains, and until we have better weapons we can use the chians themselves for our work." 'Shi slowly raised his eyes to mine, and I saw deep in their depths a respect starting. He nodded and cautiously began working himself back the way he had come. Miss nodded at me silently, and moved away too, following a safe distance behind 'Shi.

It was almost dark again, and I was drowzing in exhaution when 'Ko wriggled up to me. I glanced at him, and knew from the grin that it was done. My plan was in motion.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. As I said last chapter, I wish I did, but, sadly... .

Orphan City

Chapter 2.

by: SilverInches.

Three interminable days passed before we got word that the ships had docked. Three days in which everyone else became more worried and strung out, I became more and more lethargic about it all. Aya tried to get me interested in their little girl games, but besides scraping a kind of face on a stick for 'Zume to use as a doll, even that was becoming too much of an effort. I had no idea how I was ever going to be of any help in this plan if I could barely stay awake for more than half a day just sitting still.

I had to admit, the Master's plan for me was working. No food, not even the slop they ladled out twice a day, and only half the water ration that the littlest child was given. I could count my ribs easily now, and it was almost too much effort to try and drag myself against the weight of the chains that bound me. How long had it been since I had eaten even minimally close to enough to fill me? Far too long.

I watched 'Zume dance the stick across my arm, I didn't know what I would do without them. I'd probably be dead by now, but someone had to make sure they got their proper portions, and the guards thought that it was more painful for me if they fed my little charges well. What they didn't realize what that it was a relief to see that at least someone wasn't starving.

Sano came by from time to time to chat. He was enthusiastic about the plan, and once he saved a heel of bread for me, which I gnawed on long enough to soften and swallow. My throat felt scratched when I was done, but my shrunken belly was silent for a little while after.

The men came to move us out just after dawn of the fifth day. I guess shipmen get time to relax before they have to sail again. Lucky them. Really, all it meant was they had time to spend the cash they earned, instead of saving it. I heard the sounds of booted feet hitting flesh, and the cracks of whips when they started rousing us. And I just was barely able to drag myself and the two little girls, all of us dazed with sleep, to our feet to avoid the same fate. The night before the guards had made sure that all of us over fourteen were bound together in chain gangs numbering as many as twenty per gang. I was amazed to realize that Sano had managed to get himself chained three kids away from me, in my gang no less. But somehow it made me pleased to see, somehow it made me feel safer. A silly feeling, but it still remained.

As we shuffled forward I made sure that the little girls were both holding onto the helm of my shorts. I didn't want to lose one or both of them, they only had each other now, after all, and I didn't have a hand free to hold onto them.

It took half the day to just get us through the warehouse district and down to the water. I was panting and dizzy most the time, but the girl behind me was kind, and propped me up, offering a shoulder whenever I stumbled. And when 'Zume lost her grip on me, the same girl kindly caught her and picked her up, since I couldn't as I was the only one with wrist chains, and carried her until she wasn't too tired to keep walking. Poor little toddler. If I had the energy, I would have hated the guards as I used to but now I was empty. Just desperate to sit down and sleep.

There were five large trade ships waiting for us, and three low slung war galleys. I hadn't expected so many. My heart froze. What had I gotten us all into? Should we have gone with Sano and 'Shi's plan? But I knew that this was the best way of ensuring that we stayed free the longest, with ships to carry us a good distance on our way. But I stayed chilled as they herded us into the ships, over a hundred children to each, and settled us in the cargo hold. We were stuffed in like pickles in a barrel. That didn't bother me at all, I was asleep almost before I was fully sitting down.

When I woke up, I was warm, if a little bit damp from the moldy wood below us. My head rested on something soft, and two little bodies and a larger one were pressed up against me. It was such a nice feeling that it took me a while to realize that the girl who had carried 'Zume for me was the one who's lap I was taking up. The little bodies I knew would be Aya and 'Zume, but the large body was the person who was chained next to the nice girl. I let my eyes drift over the kid, but I didn't know him, and I turned my attention back to the girl. She saw me watching her, and smiled. She was quite pretty I thought, under the dirt that layered us all. She had black hair too, just like Sano, 'Shi and Miss. I wasn't sure why I was being surrounded by so many dark haired kids, I thought brown was supposed to be the most common hair color. Her large blue eyes held intelligence and kindness, maybe that is what made me find her pretty. After all, in a place like this, kindness is a rare quality, even more so than intellegence. That and she seemed to not have lost her will to live, her hope of an actual future. Hope is the one thing that can keep people alive against all odds. I felt my mouth stretch into a smile, answering hers.

"Are you 'Shin?" She asked quietly. "The one who came up with The Plan?" I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not, but I nodded anyway. She patted my head, and smiled again. "I'm 'Ru, sixteen." I licked my dry lips and whispered back that I was eighteen. Her eyebrows rose, and I was again reminded that I looked anything but my age. My mouth flattened out from it's smile, the one good thing about this place, was that I didn't have enough clothes to make a chest band with, which meant that while I was colder, at least I wasn't being confused for a girl. 'Ru looked apologetic, but she didn't say anything, so we stayed like that for a long time.

Strangely I felt like I was actually refreshed, not energetic maybe, but at least not like closing my eyes and drifting off again. Maybe 'Ru was magic that way, it was an interesting thought that amused me until I saw the stealthy movements of a girl of about nine or ten. She was stopping at each older kid and doing something and then moving on. I glanced to the side, where Sano sat. He grinned and gave the thumbs up. The time had come.

I realized then there was one flaw in my plan. How would we know when the others were moving? Then another problem, who of us knew how to sail a boat? I definitely didn't. I looked at Sano again, this time my panic showing through, but he was talking to the little girl, who seemed to be our thief, because she was picking the lock on our leg irons one at a time. And she was good, because in no time she had me free too. I stretched my arms completely for the first time in days. Flexing and bending. The girl, 'Ru was doing the same, and I realized that she actually looked like she knew what she was doing, like she would be of help when things came to blows.

When everyone was unchained, Sano came over to me, I looked up at him, and he grinned. "Ready?" I shrugged. I was as ready as any of us could be. "We aren't gonna kill the sailors' slaves, just the adults, the sailor kids should come over to our side when they know what we're doing. Everyone six and under will stay down here, there are a few older girls that'll be staying down here in the hold keep control. Tsu will be in charge here." He waved at the little thief, who blushed shyly and ducked her head. I nodded. They had planned things out pretty well while I was drowsing in the pens.

I knelt down next to Aya and put 'Zume's hand in hers. "No matter what, stay together! Look after her, Aya." I focused on the older girl, and she nodded her agreement. "If I'm alive, I'll find you! No matter what. I promise." I couldn't promise I wouldn't die, but I could promise that if I lived I'd be back. They both looked solemn and Aya hugged her little sister to her firmly. I stood up, and turned to Sano squaring my shoulders. "I'm ready."

He clapped me on the back, making me stagger, and handed me the short chain that had held my hands together. I gripped it firmly, and he cracked his knuckles gleefully. The plan was truly in motion now.

We slid silently out of the door into the lowest hallway of the ship. Sano went first, then me, followed by a stream of grim faced children. I hadn't got a good glimpse of our army, but from what I could tell, Sano was the oldest and biggest, which made me one of the oldest too, but by no means one of the largest.

There was one guard stationed outside our door and he didn't even get a chance to call a warning, my big friend hit him in the temple with a fist wrapped with metal, and he went down like a sack of potatoes. Then we were moving on, and upward. The hallways and stairs had me jumpy, because one man with a sword would be able to hold all of us off, trapped down here like rats. My fears never were realized though because all of us knew the risks, and our bare feet hardly made any noise on the worn wood.

'Ru and I split off from Sano when we reached the first branch, motioning for maybe ten of the oldest to follow us we headed for the crew's berth. I shuddered at the thought of what we had to do. It would be cold blooded murder, and I definitely didn't want any of the younger ones having to preform this task. We passed the galley in our travels and I slipped in carefully, searching for the drawer of butcher knives and such. I was almost brained as a frying pan clattered down next to me, but it was 'Ru who had deflected the blow and proceeded to knocked the scullion into unconsciousness with a flying kick. I raised my eyebrows at her, but didn't say anything, just tossed her one of the sharpest knives, when the six we found were passed around, we headed off again. We did leave one bigger girl behind to talk to the scullion when he came back to the land of the living, we wanted him on our side, not theirs.

There was one quick and nasty scuffle when we met up with one young man coming from the crews quarters, probably heading for the privy, but it was quick and again, with hardly any noise. I think that the most noise we'd made yet was when the frying pan hit the counter in the galley.

We reached the crew's berth, and I saw that there was a heavy wooden door that could be pulled closed. I glanced behind me and mimicked the motion of closing and baring the door. Relief showed on all their faces, which made me feel better. If we could keep them locked in, maybe we could figure out a way to keep from having to kill them all, a way to safely put them in life boats and set them adrift. No one wanted to become murderers, we just wanted to be free. 'Ru came up the the idea of using some of the knives we had and the chains to tie the door closed. We worked quickly, and when we were satisfied that it was as secure as we could make it, we left 2 boys to guard it with the biggest knives and moved back up the hallway to follow after Sano's group. At the galley door we met the girl we'd left behind, beaming and the scullion, who was once again gripping his frying pan, and still rather irate. The girl motioned us to move on, we had added one to our numbers.

We exited onto the deck of the boat to pandemonium. Men and children were down, some dead others wounded. Screams rang though the night and fires burned on some of the other ships. I realized to my horror that the war galleys had been alerted and were ranging between the five slave ships leaving men behind to help the shipmen. None of them had reached our boat yet, but one was coming quickly. I ran for the back of the ship where there was a raised section, the part that had the wheel for steering. The same place where I could clearly see Sano locked in a struggle against a large man with a sword. What I could see more clearly, however, was two more men racing in to help Sano's opponent and they had swords too.

'Ru wasn't able to quite keep pace with my adrenaline crazed rush, but she and four others managed to make it in time to intercept the second would-be-rescuer, I had my hands full with the first. I dodged and wove, using my speed to keep me from being impaled. The ship heaved below my feet and I had to fight to keep my balance. In this however, I was saved by being shorter, I recovered from one especially bad lurch of the deck and swung my chain in time to tangle it with his sword while he was still reeling. His eyes widened, and I pulled hard trying to take his weapon, but instead he staggered forward, bulling right into me and carrying us both over the railing.

Tbc.

A/N: Well, there's the next chapter. I hope that you'll enjoy it! Next chapter will be harder to do, since I'm not too confident with action scenes... Kasi.


	3. Coup de Grace

Disclaimer: Well, what do you know? I still don't own anything to do with Rurouni Kenshin… but I'm pretty sure I own the reviews that people have left. Does that count? Oh well shrug At least I don't have to disclaim them. :)

Authors Note: I was expecting to update regularly, but school had decided to jump up and bite, but I promise to update as much as a can. Please review, and let me know what you think after you've read the chapters, any feedback is good :)

Oh, and before I forget, I have to clarify, Shin calls everyone 'boys' and 'girls' it is considered an insult to call someone under 25 a 'man' or a 'woman'. If someone happens to be called an 'almost man' it's simply because he's almost 25, nothing else.

Orphan City.

Chapter Three.

By : SilverInches.

I'm not sure to this day how I managed it, but my free hand caught the railing just as we went over, and I held on. My falling opponent grabbed me by the leg and there was a dreadful pulling feeling in that limb, like I was going to lose it or something.

In the eternal moment we hung there I could see 'Ru and her helpers disarming the second man, Sano leaping to get clear of a slash by his opponent, more children bubbling up from below, the little ones, clutching pots, pans, rope, shoes, anything that they could use as a weapon. I even saw Aya clutching 'Zume's stick doll like a knife.

How had it come to this? That babies fought for freedom, they were supposed to be below, and safe. Some of the ship-slaves saw the babies and they must have had enough. It was one thing to fight kids your own age for the master, but to kill babies? Not a chance. That moment seemed never to end as I hung there, and my eye caught one more sight. The war galley had arrived, and pouring off of it came more men, at least twenty five of them, all armed, and armored. The plan was sunk. In my despair, my body took over, my free leg kicked out and caught the man below me in the head, he scrabbled wildly at my bare leg which was damp with sea foam, but a second hammer blow reached him then and he plunged downward, crying out as he fell. I paid him no mind, with one wrench of my upper arm I was over the railing, and standing blinking at my chain, which still had the man's katana tangled in it.

I knew I didn't have time to hesitate. I knew that there wasn't a second to spare, but I couldn't bring myself to reach down and take the hilt of that sword. My body frozen in horror. I had sworn I would never kill again, but could I hold to that oath when innocent lives hung in the balance. Could I give up my honor, my soul for them? For these children who were willing to die to be free? I wavered on my feet, my hesitations having the double effect of lessening the adrenaline flow in my blood. Strength was running out of me like water, leaving me exhausted again, and feeling like collapsing. I couldn't do it. There was no way I could fight again!

Then I heard Aya scream, and I was moving before I thought, across the deck, my shoulder in the man's gut, my arm around the little girl, the back of the katana smashing across her attackers hand, and we were away from him as the warrior howled in pain. It was in that moment that I realized that I could fight without actually killing. I set my little friend down in the shadows under the stairs to the upper deck, and took stock of the situation.

The warrior I had wounded looked anything but pleased, but I didn't care, I was less pleased than he was. All any of us wanted was freedom. Was that so wrong? I hurled myself forward again, hitting him a second time with my shoulder. I may not be very big, but he was stupid enough to fall for the same attack twice, so it's really his own fault. That and the fact that I had a better knowledge of our surroundings, so it didn't surprise me half as much as it did him when his thighs hit the rail and he actually toppled over it backwards.

After that it was slick wood, jarring impacts and desperate focus. They might be able to take a hit or two of mine, but if one of those big men landed a blow on me I was done for. My wild lunge to save Aya had carried me directly to where the men had swarmed off of their boat onto ours, and the war galley had pulled away assuming that the fresh soldiers would have no trouble, they hadn't counted on meeting me. I ignored the trembling in my every limb and focused my eyes sharply to take in every detail of the melee about me, and danced with them, allowing my body to take over. Twist, block, spin, leap, then lightning quick fly in to knock another body over the rail, or to the deck. Side step, duck, twist again, and strike.

The next conscious memory I have that wasn't totally impulse and reaction was that there was that there was a boy between me and the railing. It was one thing to fight men, but another kid? I cocked my head at him in question, adjusting my hand of the wet leather of the katana hilt.

He smirked, "Think you're pretty hot? Takin' out all the men? Well, see what ya make of Chou!"

Then he charged. I had never seen a kid like him. Well fed obviously, but by no means fat, rather he was lean, hard, with well developed muscles that come from hard work with good food. His blond hair stood straight up, but more than that, he almost seemed to be dressed in weapons, a flexible sword as a belt, knives as his hips, daggers in his boots, and twin swords across his shoulders. I was impressed, I would have liked to see them all in action. I'd seen soldier kids before and as a bit of professional pride had wanted to see how I measured up, but I didn't have time now to play, I was dangerously low on energy and my adrenaline was ebbing fast.

I kicked hard with my legs, taking off from the heaving deck and twisted, snapping the back of my katana at his head, just as his charge brought him in range. I felt bad. I would have loved to truly spar with him, and six months ago I would have, but not now. Now I didn't have the time. Or I thought I didn't, until somehow, impossibly he got his left shoulder sword out at an angle that blocked my blow. While he staggered from the impact, so did I. I must be getting sloppy to be caught like that, or the fact that I didn't want to kill him had slowed me down. I wasn't sure, but I would not let it happen again.

Circling now, trying to keep my body between him and the little ones under the stairs, I watched for my chance. I slid my katana down to my left hip, wishing I had its sheath, but I knew how to make do with want I had. It would be a little slower than usual, but I was hoping that it would still be fast enough.

Crouching, I waited, knowing that it was only a matter of time, and nearly fell over in surprise when a long handled scythe hit Chou over the head. Both of us snapped our heads to that side, him in annoyance, me in shock.

"That's enough." A black haired boy wearing full pants and a girl's wrap grinned at my opponent menacingly. I would have sworn he was a girl, accept that once you've been in the slave pens long enough, you stop looking at the clothing and start noticing certain features. That and when you've been mistaken for a girl, you never want to do it to someone else by accident.

Sano stood just behind him, grinning. "This is Kamatari." He said proudly, "He and his shipmates have decided to join us on our quest." Chou was sulking quietly, obviously irked that he didn't get to have his fight with me, but I was just as glad to postpone it to a time when we could really test each other. Also, right now all I was able to do was keep my rather spongy legs from buckling and dumping me rather embarrassingly on my face.

"We just couldn't side with adults against kids, especially such little ones." Kamatari chattered gleefully, "Besides, we may not be called slaves, but our training masters held no love for us brats." He threw a side long glance at Chou and then around at he few other warrior kid who were on the ship with us who readily nodded their agreement.

I realized then that _our_ ship was _Ours_! We had done it. Well, sorta. I could see battles still being held on other ships, but they were dying down too. Hard to believe, but I was realizing the magnitude of what we had just done. We, a bunch, I'll admit a very large bunch of kids, had managed to take over five trade ships and three war galleys. Even as I looked I realized that one of the sailor kids that had joined us was hoisting a large red flag up the main mast, and better yet answering red flags were being raised on all the other ships. This included the war galleys, which had suffered rather swift mutinies of their own buy the warrior Brats, and the oarsmen, though most of the oarsmen were Brats.

'Ru was beside me then, dancing with joy, but desperate for hands to help with the wounded. The day was won, but the rest of the night was spent in frantic activity. Emptying the crew we had trapped from downstairs, marching them to the little life rafts, and setting them all adrift. Tending the wounded of both sides, before we sent them off, and moving our damaged ones into the relative comfort of the crews berth. The grim, sad duty of committing bodies, too many of them small to the cold grip of the sea. Then came the task of organizing all these ships and getting under way again.

By this point I was sitting rather dazedly at Sano's feet, Aya and 'Zume clutching at me with the desperate strength of fear, just trying to keep up with the decisions being made. I really didn't care how silly I looked, sitting as I was, but I just couldn't stand any longer, and my big friend didn't seem to mind supporting all of us, so there I stayed.

It was arranged that we would take the war galleys only, since they were faster, and we didn't dare stay around until someone found out about this coup. We packed the sick into the small crews berth over there, then transferred as much food stuff as we could, finally packing ourselves onto the ships like sardines in a can. We had enough sailor kids between all the ships to sail the three we were keeping. Besides, there was no shortage of willing hands to help out if more power was needed.

Our ship voted to answer to, strangely enough, me, and then made a much more appropriate choice in a tall, thin, black haired healer-girl called Meg. This decision explains why I was still trying to sit up and take part. Everyone was letting Sano act in my stead, and I didn't bother trying to wrap my tired mind around why they didn't just make him the second leader. Our ship was named Glory, and I'm not sure why, or who came up with it, but I liked it better than the names of the other galleys, strangely enough, I think that the names we gave our boats, reflected the entire attitude of that particular vessel.

The second war galley had been dubbed the Shadow Warrior, and leading it was 'Shi and surprisingly Kamatari. I think that came about because a lot of the warrior Brats and 'Shi's own ninja gang ended up on that one, and it was better to have representation from both of the largest factions on board. That and 'Shi really doesn't seem very approachable for the more mundane things in life. I mean, can you imagine having some poor little child have to come up to him and say 'I want a new sleeping mat, 'cause my neighbor wets himself every night.' I just couldn't see it. Kamatari, though, seemed much more approachable.

The last war galley was the Wolf. Simple, easy, and completely understandable. It was under the just but iron fist of Sai. The almost man formerly described as 'looking as friendly as an eel and as kind as a wolf'. He ended up doing a good job too from what I hear, but I think that it also helped that his second in command was a spirited girl who seemed to bring out that tiny part of him that didn't scare the babies.

We sorted this all out just as dawn was turning the horizon to liquid fire, and that was about the time that my body decided that it had enough of being starved, dehydrated, run all over a rocking ship, and as I struggled to rise to talk to Meg about getting things more organized on our specific ship, my body mutinied and I tumbled limply back to the floor. Sano made a grab to save me, but it was too little to late, and he just managed to pull my arm at an awkward angle as I fell.

The next thing I knew Sano had scooped me up and was babbling something at Meg, who was pressing her cool fingers under my chin. I didn't like this and jerked to get away, when you've lived on the edge as long as I have, you take a dislike to anyone being near your throat. None the less, the fingers stayed where they were, and all I managed to do was end up with my head tucked under my friend's chin. Then I was being set down on a mat, and a blanket was being pulled over me by 'Ru. All three of them left me to rest then, but a moment later, to my surprise 'Ru was back with a cup in her hand, which she helped me drink from. It was nectar of the gods, sent down to mortal man in a goblet of crystal, only fit for angels consumption. I must have said something along those lines, because she giggled and let me have some more water. I don't think I had ever heard anything so wonderful either, and I just wanted to make her giggle again. But my body once again mutinied and ambushed me with darkness, and blessedly it was the sleep of exhaustion, and no nightmares plagued me.

Tbc.

There, I have updated. I decided that the only way to actually keep updating, was to put it on the to-do list of school projects I have. And lo, it worked. :) Please review. They brighten this student's day!

Kasi


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Is everyone else as sick of this as I am? I'm a poor college student. I own NOTHING, let alone a hugely lucrative manga thing...

**Orphan City.**

Chapter Four.

_By : SilverInches._

The days slid by in a stream. I think that I could almost have described myself as happy. I mean, children are children, and there were squabbles to sort out every day, but no one came storming in with whips, chains or any similar paraphernalia. I learned quickly that a smile from one of us older ones defused situations far faster than a frown or a snarl. I learned to smile almost constantly, and strangely enough for a loner like I had been, I became the favorite for the little ones to come and talk to, or play with if they had such a mind.

The weather was perfect. I don't even know how to describe it. A steady breeze behind us, pushing us swiftly on our way, a breeze that never wavered, or died out completely. The sailors informed us that it was 'witch' weather, or unnaturally good weather. They spread whispers that someone must have made a deal with Death to have such good fortune on the high seas.

That aside, for the most part, nothing marred the journey. 'Shi seemed to have a head for remembering the path back to the city, or else he was really good at bluffing about it, because he never hesitated for a second on telling us where we should point the prows of our vessels.

One bright morning, I woke just as the sun was gliding up over the edge of the horizon in all its fiery glory. I knew it would be another blistering day, and I wanted to work the kinks out of my muscles before too many others where astir to see me practicing. I had so far avoided any of the questions that Sano, Meg, 'Ru and any number of other kids had leveled at me about my fighting on the night of the Coup. Be that as it may, I was almost totally recovered from my brush with starvation by that time, and wanted to make sure I had not lost my edge.

My thoughts on the matter were thwarted however when 'Ru slipped up beside me and turned to watch the sunrise. She must have thought that was what I was doing, and I tried not to grind my teeth as I stood politely with her and watched too. I would have to remember to wake earlier next time. Much as I found I enjoyed this girl's company, and I did enjoy it very much, I still wanted to make sure that when Chou of the Swords asked for a rematch that I had figured out how to fight best without using a blade's edge. After all, I refused to kill any more! In fact, I had vowed not to and I would never renege on that promise. It was too solemn, made to someone too precious to ever break.

As the sun came into full view over the horizon, 'Ru gave a kind of shriek and spun towards me, throwing her arms around my neck in a wild embrace. I just barely saved both of us from a rather embarrassing tumble, so great was my astonishment, but I managed while staring at her in open mouthed shock, wondering if she had finally cracked. Her yell had drawn the attention of others, and in the moment it took me to steady us, we had been surrounded by sleepy children demanding to know what was the matter.

'Ru released me with out a backward glance, turning to face the crowd, I could see Sano at the back looking at me questioningly, all I could do was shrug.

"Doesn't anyone realize what that means?" She pointed at the sun, now with a finger width or more of sky between it and the ocean's edge. We looked at her stupidly, waiting for her to explain. 'Ru practically glowed, her blue eyes shone, and not just from the light reflecting in them. "Think!" She commanded. "What is another important dawn that you remember?"

I gasped. I had always been quick at getting riddles, and at math, and I now realized what she was getting at. I felt a smile like none I had ever felt before practically split my face in half! We had gained control of the ships just as dawn was breaking. Just as the sun rose over the lip of the world, when land was still in sight just at the edge of the horizon.

A dawn like this.

A dawn that took place fourteen nights ago.

We were _free_.

Under any law, governed by the adults own rules, we were free. We had removed ourselves from their control, and kept ourselves out of that control for a fortnight. We were free.

I spun to hug 'Ru and she laughed as I spun he around joyously. Pandemonium reigned for many long minutes as sailors ran up the flags to tell the other ships the news and everyone raced about cheering. Why no one had bothered to worry about when we would be free puzzled me, but maybe it was the peace that we had been sailing through, or all the new things to see that had distracted us. Whatever the reason, it made for a lovely surprise, suddenly realizing that you're your own person now.

"What's your name?" I asked breathlessly, "I'm Kenshin!" I was drunk on the moment, I could use the name I thought would never be mine again.

And the beautiful, happy, beaming girl in my arms laughed back. "I'm Kaoru!"

_Tbc._

**A/N:** Sorry about the lack of any action. I was gonna write more, but the teachers went of strike in our schools, and my teachers decided to give us all our final projects before they left, and since I didn't know when the strike would end (still don't) I've been working my butt off to try and get some of it done up...

Blah, not that you really care to hear about that. I hope that you'll like this chapter, I promise some action next time. I hope to have it out in the next week. And I hope it'll be longer:) oh, and someone tell me if my style changes too much. I can never tell from chapter to chapter. But I hope not.

Kasi.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Is everyone else as sick of this as I am? I'm a poor college student. I own NOTHING, let alone a hugely lucrative manga thing...

A/N: I just what to say I'm terribly sorry for taking such a long time to update. I still have one test and an interview for my drafting class, but mostly I've tied things up. Also a friend of mine is on her death bed in the hospital, but I can't do anything but wait. I can't think of anything more terrible than being powerless! I would rather be dieing myself if I could give her a bit more life!

A/N-2: That was several weeks ago, again. I'm afraid that when my friend died everything got thrown over, and I've not been back to finish this in a while. I'm sorry. And I hope that you'll all forgive me for taking so long!

Orphan City.

_Chapter Five._

By : SilverInches.

It wasn't even a moment from when I learned Kaoru's name until a shout went up from one of the other ships, and all attention was turned to the sailor kids who where able to translate what the message flags were saying.

Land.

One the the simplest messages to be communicated between vessels in the last fortnight. The first leg of our journey was almost complete, we would take to foot after this, and proceed across a rather barren stretch of land, by 'Shi's descriptions, and on to the Orphan City. The swiftness of the winds that had brought us to this point was incredible, our guide had estimated a whole month longer traveling time than we had spent, just on the sea voyage.

We didn't make it within reach of land until well after dark. So we dropped anchor and rested as much as we could, considering the excitement in the air.

There were more fights between children in that day than all the days before it combined. Even I got fed up with the squabbles, and asked Kaoru if she would help me work some of their energy off by teaching different age groups some basics of hand to hand self defense. She was only too happy to help, and by the time we reached our night anchorage the littlest ones at least had ceased to add to the pandemonium.

I was up again before dawn, and swept quickly through my exercises, so as to be done before anyone else stirred. I was a little worried about how things would proceed with all the little ones, and not a single wagon between us, even to carry supplies! I wasn't sure about the other ships, but of the Glory's children, over half were under the age of seven, and there was no way we'd be back to carry enough supplies for all the mouths we needed to feed.

By dusk that night we had everyone on dry ground, and settled ready to sleep our first night on land, while being free. I was looking forward to a good night's sleep myself, considering how early I'd been up, and how busy the day had been, but it was not to be. Meg told me that the ship leaders were calling a meeting to discuss how the next stage of the trip would work. I thought that it would make more sense to talk about it when we were all awake, and in a better frame of mind, but I didn't say so, I just trailed after her.

It went rather well, we quickly gave our full names, Meg was actually a doctor's daughter named Megumi, who had been sold to keep the younger ones in her family from the same fate. 'Shi was Aoshi, he volunteered no other information. Kamatari we already knew was a sword brat, born and bred, and that left the Wolf's leaders, who turned out to be wed. Tokio, and Saitou, were their full names.

This was the first time that I had laid eyes on the leader's of the Wolf, and I received a nasty shock, even for someone who is accustomed to being brought face to face with unpleasant things. I had never been told his name, but I had seen Saitou before. In dark alleyways, beneath moonlit trees and across bare steel.

He recognized me as well. I had not survived so long without being able to realize such things, and while Kamatari tossed out some ideas about sharing burdens, I locked onto Saitou's golden eyes, and watched as his mind moved as swiftly, weighing courses of action, just like I was.

In some ways it was all a mistake that we were enemies, really. We should have been on the same side. We were both loyal, honorable, and fought for what we thought was right, but sometimes fate laughs. Somehow fate seems to laugh a lot when I'm around, but be that as it may Saitou had been a loyal guard of one of the King's most trusted advisors. My master, Katsura had sent an assassin to do away with the aforementioned noble. Blood had been spilled in a fashion that I cared not to think about, leading to a long and frustrating game of hit and miss.

After an eternal moment, we both dragged our eyes back to the other leaders, where discussion was proceeding apace. It was quickly decided that the three main groups from the ships would retain their ship's name. Glories, Shadows and Wolves. Each group would be divided into four. Under those four captains would come 'family' groups, so that no one would not be accounted for before we moved out each morning, or after we stopped each night. We were going to take no chances. No one moved out until we had the full numbers tallied all the way up to the top. I was glad of this, because it meant that no toddling baby, which abounded in the Glories, would be in danger of being forgotten.

Kamatari came up with the idea of riding one or more of the ships up onto the beach, and using the wood, barrels, and anything salvageable to make carts, or sledges when the round objects ran out, so we could all carry enough supplies and in some cases leave hands open to carry the littlest ones.

I was very grateful when we could finally stagger off to bed, and I beat a hasty retreat from our circle of leadership, to tired to even care that my bitterest rival was within a mile of me. Again, my desperate lunge for bed was foiled with Saitou drifted out of the shadows, right in my path.

I back peddled quickly, realizing that with this one in camp, I would now have to be on my guard at all times, not so prone to dropping it as I had been in the last few weeks.

If it's possible to say that a wolf is contemplative, then that is how Saitou looked at that moment. "I could have killed you, you would never have seen it coming." He said, coolly, "I will not lower myself to be an assassin, nor will I make myself ridiculous by challenging an opponent that is so obviously unprepared." He turned as if to leave, and then paused. "I will find out why you are here, child killer, and then I will kill you."

I had stood silent, letting him have his piece, but just as he was sliding back into the darkness under the dunes, I hissed, "I could say the same to you, abettor of adults."

He spun back to me, towering over me angrily. Almost menacing, since I had no weapon, and he out weighed my by half again. "The pet of Katsura can say that of me?" He snarled.

I shrugged. "You should not talk of things you don't understand." I was deliberately dismissive of him. "I have never hunted, or killed children."

He laughed, a short mirthless laugh. I knew what he would say next, and I could not refute him, some training was too terrible, pounded too deep, to break.

"You have never hunted or killed a child? That's what Katsura's killers do. Hunt down escaped slaves, kill them, or bring them back. Do you deny it, red fiend?"

I was silent. If could have, I would have, but years of training made it impossible to tell more. Katsura wanted to make sure that no one found out what he truly did, so he had made sure that none of his slaves, his hunters could tell. As I said, some training could render the strongest will shattered if only in the smallest area. So, all I was able to reply was with a weak, "Don't believe everything you hear." But I did not deny his words, and he smirked, knowing that he had won this round.

"Watch yourself," the words drifted back to me on the breeze as he moved away, "I won't destroy your evil today, but when this journey is over, and the children are safe, you will die."

Suddenly I felt emptier than I had in weeks. My body seemed almost to want to collapse right there. I pondered the precarious situation I was in. All Saitou had to do was breathe one word to someone that I had been Katsura's slave, and I would die. Everyone knew Katsura's name, and not just slave children either. Aya and 'Zume had known his name from before, when they lived with their nice old Grampa. Katsura was supposed to be a deamon of the darkest dreams, the thing that terrors were built on. How many times had I heard slavers say: _If you try to run away, Katsura will send his hunters after you_, or masters hiss: _If you don't obey, Katsura's fiend's will get you_, or parents even scolding: _If you aren't good, Katsura will take you to become one of his killers_. And there would be no contradiction from my mouth.

I had actually started to hope that I would be able to escape all that with this dash for freedom, but I should have known that the Orphan's City would not be for me. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't giving up, I would not just let Saitou kill me. But I had sworn never to kill again, and I wouldn't. Not even to stop my bitterest enemy, or to live in a city of legend.

I want to make it very clear here, that everyone has their depressing times. I was tired, had just seen newly sprung hopes dashed and realized that I was helpless to refute any of my nemesis' claims. You see, Katsura was actually in the business to re-build the government, not hunt down slave children. I knew that. I was his most trusted killer. A shadow assassin of the highest skill and loyalty, the instrament to tear down the old slave supported society, and build a new great one instead. But even a slave of the highest loyalty can not be completely trusted, so he had me, actually all the other high end killers too, trained so that we would never speak of what we knew of his plans. The memories of punishment where too terrible to contemplate. My mind said it was fine now, I knew he could not touch me if I did tell Saitou, or Sano, or Kaoru or anyone else the truth about my former master, but my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, my jaws clenched and my head ached just from trying to say something when _no one _was around, let alone telling an actual person.

I finally managed to drag myself to my mat, and flopped gracelessly onto it. I almost felt like crying in frustration. All of this would be taken care of, no harm - no foul, if I could just open my mouth and tell Sano, who's full name, by the way, is Sanosuke but he doesn't like it, preferring his slave name.

Now, back to the other matter. If I could just tell Sano the truth about me, about Katsura, and the aristocrats that know their government is crubbling. If I could just tell about the highborns that are scared of my master, so they try to lessen his power by creating stories to spread about him. Rumors, that cause the very children he's trying to indirectly aid to hate and fear him, that have been spread for longer than we'd remember anyway. I have a strong will. I have self confidence, and an abundance of stubbornness, but its like there's this one little part of my psyche that was shattered and put back together in a manner they wanted, and it maddened me to know that I was still their pawn. When I vowed to never kill, I had also vowed to not be used by them again either. I guess that wasn't working out quite like I had hoped.

Just as I was about to give up on my brain even slowing down enough for me to sleep, two little bodies squiggled like puppies against the warmth of my sides, since I was laying on my stomach. Aya and 'Zume, had their bed right next to mine, and somehow even in their sleep were able to comfort me. They were what I would live for now. Just to make sure they made it to The City. After that, come what may, I could live with it.

TBC.

I hope that this chapter made sense. This story just kind took off in a seperate direction slightly, and I'm gonna have to see how it ends up.

Hope ya'll like it! And have a good night!

Kasi.


	6. Chapter 6

**A.N.** : I never thought that I would leave this story alone for so long, but I found myself stumbling from one distraction to another, if you call finals, marriage, moving, looking for work, starting work and everything else to be distractions... although, I'll admit that is still no excuse, because I did have time to write... I'm just lazy, what can I say.

**Orphan City.**

_Chapter 6._

The next weeks passed in a haze of dust and thirst. Water was hard to find and when it was discovered, it was never plentiful. Scrub brush was the only vegetation to break the horizon, and only added to everyone's depression and general irritability.

Sano appointed himself head of the 'child transportation devices', in other words, the sledges we had made out of parts of the war boats. The first morning we headed out I took hold of one of the lead straps and pulled along side of my friend. Within half an hour of starting, Sano very firmly untangled me from the traces, and carried me over to where Kaoru was, saying that under no circumstance was I to be allowed back among the larger kids who were hauling sledges. Normally I would have been incensed but having nearly worn myself out in such a short time, and then almost gotten run over when our wagon got away from us on a slope, I was just as happy to be free of the obligation.

Even if I hadn't wanted to give up that brutal work, Kaoru dragged me to one side as soon as Sano dropped me off with her, demanding to know how I intended to make sure everyone didn't die of thirst. We had brought along the big water barrels from the ship, and we had just filled them from a stream, but we couldn't follow the stream and still follow Aoshi's remembrance of the way to the Orphan City. So we divided the kids that were too small to pull and too big to ride into teams of four; each team was to search a different area we passed for any water to be found, including muddy little creeks and ponds that were no wider than the length of my arm. With all the children we had to care for, we couldn't stand to miss any water we found.

Food wasn't really that much of a problem until the end of the first month. As we passed small villages we sent out middle sized children in packs of eight to find work in exchange for any food they could get. Most people out in those areas were good adults, poor and hard working, and to have that many willing hands pitching in with early harvests and late planting, they were almost always willing to part with something. Hunting groups also helped fill out our dwindling supplies.

Maybe the time wouldn't have been so miserable for me if I hadn't had Saitou's eyes burning into the back of my neck almost constantly. I was back into battle alertness before I realized it, and found myself completely unwilling to have Ayame or Suzume out of my sight for longer than half the day, and then only if they were in the sledge that Sano was pulling.

All of us lost our ill pallor as we trekked across that sun beaten land, with fresh air, and the absence of adult terrors waiting for you to do something wrong. Shoulders straightened, furtive looks be came less common as time passed, and while tempers did run high, you could see some semblance of pride and self confidence in the way they held their heads. Smiles also became more frequent. In the pens weeks would pass between the times a smile was seen by anyone, but now among the temper tantrums and squabbles, smiles peeked though, too.

We had just entered out sixth week on land when I came in from water finding duty just as the sun was setting. The sledges were circling to provide some cover during the long cold nights, when Kamatari raced up to me panting desperately about a group of four water hunters that had not come back last night, and hadn't been seen all day either. As I raced with him to a leader's conference, I demanded to know how their group count at dusk last night hadn't noticed they were missing. The warrior responded that things had been getting pretty lax with counting. Tokio let us know that the fastest and freshest warriors were racing back in an attempt to pick up a trail, and discover what was going on. Saitou just happened to be one of the ones gone and I was rather glad about that, after all, it meant I could relax a bit.

With nothing to do but wait, we calmed people down, counted out the groups, lectured any late coming water teams, and discovered in the process that over fifteen children were missing. Panic had to be quelled then, and it seemed to take half the night before the distraught little ones made it into their blanket groups and to sleep.

We had no choice but to move on the next morning, but head counts were being done religiously at dawn, noon day and dusk. Any teams that went out to hunt water were doubled in number to eight, and were provided with daggers or clubs to use in defense. No one was late getting back to camp any more, and we doubled the night time patrols around the outside of the camp. Warrior brats were put in charge of those patrols and were hard nosed about discipline and proper guarding techniques.

We came across our first river four days later, and that is were Saitou's team caught up with us. The news was grim. From what the tracks could tell, it seemed that riders had overtaken them, one was dead, found in a shallow ditch, the others had struggled but been carried off on the horses. The team had back-tracked along their trail and found a camp with the signs of slave trade written all over it. Outrage swept us. Here we were, on our way to freedom, the Orphan City, and because of more adults one of us was dead, and fourteen more lost to us.

We constructed a pulley system over the river the next day, eating fish, and hauled everyone over on barges the next few days after that. Aoshi remembered the place as on of the last land marks before the City, but maybe it was just a dream, not a place of fulfilled wishes at all. I ran patrols day by day, using my speed and sureness of foot to cover a lot of territory. The stolen katana resting in an improvised belt at my hip.

Saitou's glaring had intensified exponentially as he stared at me any time he saw me. He obviously thought I was the one to bring the riders down on us, or something, but i wasn't really concerned about that at the moment. I avoided him like the plague, and made sure to not let him corner me alone.

Two weeks after the river we crested a ridge to stare down into a fertile valley, a city rising on the other slope, Aoshi who was walking beside me let out a nearly soundless sigh. "It looks different." He murmured, "but the location is correct."

I stared first at him, and then at the city. This was it? The long awaited first sight of the Orphan City? It was so anti-climatic. It had been a long trip, but no one had really tried to stop us, or hindered our path too much. Was it possible that the gods were smiling brightly at us? Sano jogged up, followed quickly by the other leaders, everyone looking at our guide.

I slowly felt a grin spread over my face as I looked up at them, Aoshi didn't say a word, being his stoic self didn't respond, so I said "He says this is it. Right location, looks a bit different, but right place."

"Time would account for the changes." Megumi observed.

Word filtered through ranks, we had arrived. No one moved for several minutes just staring, and then like a breaking wave, we poured down the slope gaining speed and volume as we went. I was carried along on the crazy flood for several exultant moments, but was wrenched violently back by my hair. My hand was at my weapon, eyes threatening, before I registered it was Saitou.

"We need to talk."

"Give me a chance to get the little girls settled, and then we'll finish this." I countered. He grunted and dropped me, turning to saunter down the slope following the path his wife had taken. I saw adults and children working together in the fields, and more importantly, no one looked starved, beaten, or ever very ragged. Wonder slowly filled me, and I quickened my pace to a trot.

**TBC.**

Note: I realize that this is a short chapter, but here it is, and I'll try to get another one out soon. Hope it still works for everyone. Please review, I'd really like to hear from you. I wanted there to be a happy ending to this chapter, before really get back into it... Kasi.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I forgot this on the last chapter so I guess that I'll make up for it now. I do not own anything to do with these characters, and I do not profit from writing this! Other than in reviews. I get paid in reviews, so please review lots!

A.N. : Once again I'm at work. Do I see a pattern building? Oh well. Here is the next installment of Orphan City. How sad is it when your husband tells you to hurry up and finish this story so you can write another story, 'cause he thinks that hes gonna like IT more than this one... though he did say its just because he prefers the other story style, but still... Oh well, this story doesn't have much time let in it anyway. One or two chapters after this, that's all. Hope you enjoy. -Kasi.

**Orphan City.**

_By: SilverInches_

I didn't get more than ten steps down the slope when Saitou's back stiffened, and he broke out of his leisurely pace into a dead run. It took me no more than a moment to see what had caused him to speed up. The farmers in the fields were scattering in every direction, as out of the city itself came a flood of riders. There were hundreds of them, raiders. My stomach tied itself back into the knot it was used to being in. That brief moment when I had actually thought that we were home-free was shattered.

I flung myself down the slope as fast as I could, searching for Sano who I was sure had my little girls with him. Then Kamatari was beside me yelling something desperately, though I couldn't hear what he was saying. Those that had seen the riders were screaming in fear or anger, and those that hadn't were still cheering. The sword brat wasn't interested in not being heard, he grabbed me by the shoulders and hauled me against his side to be tucked neatly under his arm, as he somehow managed to keep up with my desperate run.

"We can't fight them all. We have to surrender and bide our time!" He finally managed to forced his voice to produce the words loud enough.

I put my mouth almost at his ear and yelled with all my might, "There won't be a second chance. If we give in now, we'll never get free."

Kamatari didn't argue with me, he just looked sadly at me for a long second, and I realized that he knew as well as I did that we would never get a second chance to escape, he was just hoping to minimize the number of children that would die. Then the moment was passed and Kamatari was racing off on a tangent to me, and I plunged into the pandemonium of the valley.

Little ones screamed, cried and dropped to the ground in huddled groups. This herd mentality helped me little bit, as I was able to get around them faster, and find kids that were armed to tell them to spread the word of our newest 'plan'. I felt terrible not telling them the whole truth, that this could very well be the end of the line. Well, I guess I was still in a bit of denial myself, since I knew very well we were done. All the traveling, all the victories and squabbles had been for nothing, since it had all been a lie, there was no Orphan City. Maybe there had been when Aoshi was here last, but obviously something drastic had changed.

Kamatari must have gotten to Saitou about this 'plan' because when the riders had swept around us, trapping us in a ring of horses, he stepped forward slowly and surrendered his sword to their leader. I was close enough to hear them ask if he was the leader, and I knew he would say yes and take all the blame on himself, so before I really thought it out, I scrambled forward to stand beside him.

"Who is this?" I might have been a bug that suddenly crawled out from under a rock considering his tone of voice, but I stared up at the tall almost-adult by my side stubbornly, letting him know that he would not be allowed to do this alone.

A wry smile touched the corner of his lips, "One of my fellow leaders." He stated clearly. Asohi slid out of the crowd suddenly and stood beside us as well, I was startled to see that he looked rather green in the face. Then it hit me like a load of bricks, he thought this was all his fault. He had mentioned the City in the first place, he had convinced me to join, and I had come up with the Better Plan. He had lead us here, and right back into slavery.

"Three of you?" the rider's eyes swept the crowd as if searching for more, but the others must have been too far away to get to the front and stand up with us. "Very well then. Bring them." I craned my head around desperately, trying to catch a glimpse of Sano or the little girls or Kaoru, but being as short as I am was a disadvantage in that situation. It only took a moment for our hands to be bound and I was picked up and tossed belly down over the pommel of a one of the rider's saddles. Due to my face being buried in a horse's shoulder I couldn't see what was happening to anyone else, but I assumed that my fellow leaders were getting similar treatment to my own and that the children were being herded together to be taken to work camps.

The following ride was brutal. I lost what little food I had in my stomach early in the trip, much to my captor's disgust and spent the rest of the time trying every trick I knew to cushion my middle from the repeated blows of the pommel, the hand on my back holding me down didn't help in the least and I was hardly able to draw breath.

When I was finally thrown off the horse, all I could do was lie dizzily on the ground, black spots filling my vision, gasping to get my wind back. Above me I could hear the grumblings of my rider as he tried to wipe my vomit off of his armor, and I wished vindictively that it would stain.

I was just starting to take in my surroundings when, with Saitou and Aoshi in front of me, we were marched quickly up a ramp leading into a large fortress. As far as I could tell it seemed to be at the center of the city, and I was amazed that I hadn't noticed passing through so many people, never mind what kind of discomfort I was in at the time. Unless, another thought entered my mind, this whole city lived in terror of the riders and the people had all run inside to hide when their oppressors were known to be passing by. That would explain why I hadn't heard them.

The fortress was a maze of corridors, doorways and stairs, if I hadn't been trained as an assassin I would have been lost in moments, as it was I was losing confidence in my memory of the way we had come when I realized that they had likely been leading us through a circuitous route to cause confusion. These men were taking no chances with us.

Finally, after walking for almost as long as we had ridden horses, our little entourage exited into a huge room. I suppose it would be called a throne room, as one end of it was almost entirely taken up by a dais, and the dais sported a massive chair. Said chair was occupied by one of the most dangerous men I had ever encountered. I could feel his fighting energy from where I stood, the entire room and over two score of people between us. My stomach lurched, there would be no sneaking out behind this one's back. Not a chance. I could tell by the knotting in Saitou's back muscles that he realized the same thing.

It was impossible to tell the age of this Lord, because he had bandages covering every inch of his body. Sitting by his knee was a beautiful woman with rich clothes and black hair, but even her beauty became unimportant when you saw his eyes. They were a piercing red, that seemed to burn with a malevolent fire deep within, causing shivers to run up and down my spine. I refused to acknowledge the tremors, forcing myself to focus all my energy into holding his eyes when they swept over me. I would not be cowed! The bandages on his brow rose in surprise at my spirit, and a smile tinged with something like recognition touched the corners of his mouth, but somehow this smile made Saitou's wolfishness look like a puppy by comparison.

"These are the ones that led the army here?"

I started, if they treated our coming like an invasion they could legally kill everyone of us, to the last child, right away. Not waiting until the two weeks had passed to take possession of us. Though considering this man seemed to hold even the adults here in thrall, I didn't really think that it would matter what the law said. I guess we had passed beyond any sort of law when we conquered the ships months ago.

"Yes, m'lord." One of the riders piped up.

"What is your purpose here?" The man ignored the previous speaker in favor of burning holes in us with his eyes.

Saitou and Aoshi where still in front of me, and I saw them exchange a quick glance, then Aoshi stepped forward slightly, "I brought them. This was the Orphan City." I sighed internally. Only we would think it smart to let the most taciturn of all people be our spokesman.

As I expected the entire hall was soon filled with wild laugher. The man on the throne flicked his fingers and the noise stopped.

"Sadly," He almost purred into the new stillness. "The City of which you speak fell prey to a mightier force. It no longer follows the policies that made it so weak." I saw Aoshi's hands twist furiously against the ropes that bound his hands behind his back, but they held strong.

"I do not care what age you are." The bandaged one continued, "Only fi you have strength and wit. All of you clearly possess this, if you managed to drag a bunch of babies here all the way from... where was it again?" We remained silent.

The man nodded his head slightly, as if deciding something. "Leave me." The guards grabbed us to haul us out of the room when the Lord said, "No, leave them." Soon we were standing the massive room by ourselves, facing the man, the woman by his knee, and a boy who stood near a side door on the dais with a pleasant smile on his lips.

"Come forward. Now we can talk. No one will hear."

Seeing the other two were too busy trying to find a way to use this new turn of events for our advantage, I moved past them, and walked steadily towards the throne. It wasn't very long before I heard the other two following cautiously. I wasn't very fond of this new position I was in, this Lord in front of me with his burning eyes, and Saitou with his cold mistrust of me behind, but if I could take most of the attention off of them, then maybe they would be able to think of a way to get out of here.

"Where did you come from?" He asked again.

"Depreth, beyond the Mine Cities." My voice was docile, but my eyes never left his. Another reason I had moved to the front was so that Aoshi would not see my eyes change color with the rising of my spirit, as my soul fought to keep from being dominated.

"And who owned you?" He was amused by my struggling against him, but I hoped I was strong enough to gain equal standing with him, possibly even beat him in a battle of wills then we might have a good chance of surviving this mess.

"The Mining companies." I responded.

He frowned. "Do not make me repeat myself."

"Lord Ito of Shinsen." Saitou's voice cut in coldly from behind me, maybe he realized I was trying to fight the man and was lending me some help. Then again, maybe he knew I wasn't going to spout off my former master's name.

"All three of you?"

"Lord Kashiwazaki of Aioya." I blinked in surprise. I hadn't realized that Aoshi had belonged to one of the few men that agreed and worked with my former master, though privately.

"Powerful men indeed. You will be worth my while to keep. I will provide you good positions in my army, you could not ask for better."

"I will die first." Saitou ground out between clenched teeth. Aoshi grunted in agreement. The baleful eyes had not left mine and I nearly collapsed under the weight of his fury at being turned down, but somehow a stray thought of Kaoru hugging me the morning we realized we were free sprang into my mind and my trembling ceased. I bore the man's power with renewed ease.

Eyes suddenly narrowing at mine, he snarled, "And you? Who was able to keep possession you?" I guess I had impressed him with the strength of my will, but I held my tongue. "I wanted to hear you say it, but I don't need you to." His tone had almost become conversational, "I know who molded you to become what you are. The same one who shaped me, and then ordered me killed one week before my twenty fifth birthday." I shuddered, it was every child's fear, to almost survive until adulthood only to been destroyed within touching distance of freedom.

"I'll make you a deal." The bandaged one continued, "I'll allow all of your little friends to live, and work as they did before you ran away, in exchange you answer to me, and only me. Just like Sou over there." I didn't dare break eye contact, but I knew he was talking about the smiling boy.

"Yes." I almost choked on the word, but managed to push it passed my gag reflex.

"You'll answer to me, just as you did him?" The burning eyes were laughing at me now, but I couldn't let all those kids be slaughtered.

"Yes."

The eyes finally left mine and looked at the other two. "I will give you time to change your minds. I will not waste such valuable resources."

The guards were called back in, and as my hands were untied, and the other two were dragged away I saw clearly in Saitou's eyes the wish that he had killed me the moment he recognized me back on the edge of the sea. After all, the Shinsengumi's are trained to one rule, 'kill evil instantly'.

My stomach was heaving with the thought that I had just bound myself to a man twice as harsh as my master had been.

Tbc.

A.N.: Almost there. :) Please review, and let me know what you think. Story, writing style, whatever.

Kasi.


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